Public becoming more active in pursuit of goverment information, media less active

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Pia Christensen (@AHCJ_Pia) is the managing editor/online services for AHCJ. She manages the content and development of healthjournalism.org, coordinates AHCJ's social media efforts and edits and manages production of association guides, programs and newsletters.

The survey also found, perhaps less surprisingly, that news organizations are less likely to sue for access to public information because of a lack of resources.

The new findings include both good news and bad, said Kenneth F. Bunting, executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition.

“If ordinary citizens are becoming more aware of their access rights, and more assertive regarding them, it is indeed a reason to be gratified,” he said. “However, if news organizations are trending toward being less gung-ho in an area once regarded as a matter of responsibility and stewardship, there is the frightening potential that journalism could suffer, as could the health of our democracy.”

Among the findings:

Media lawyers and representatives of the NFOIC member coalitions said they had seen an increased number of open government violations in recent years.

The number of open records requests made by private citizens and other non-media organizations has increased.

60 percent of media lawyers surveyed noted a decrease in open government lawsuits by media organizations over the past five years.

The survey also looked at the prevalence and effectiveness of FOI hotlines, finding that they “got generally high marks from all respondents.”